Over at Adams option blog, he writes about pins and why they happen (link). Adam also mentions AAPL Apple Inc and GS Goldman Sachs as pin candidates.
For novices reading along, a pin happens when a stock closes right at a strike price. Each option has a strike price. For example, I own WDC and am short the Feb 20 calls. WDC closed just a bit above 20 today. If it closes right at 20, all the puts and calls with a strike price of 20 expire worthless. All the option sellers would like this scenario and often will use their resources to nudge a stock to get it to pin.
Once in a while I will look for a scalp trade where there is decent premium left during expiration week. Of course, sometimes these can blow up, and the profits tend to be tiny. However, the annualized rate of return can be quite high for a day or a few days holding period.
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